Huntington City Council discusses Gibb Property

Huntington City recently acquired the old Gibb property on Main Street, they plan to tear down the buildings and cleanup the property for resale.

Huntington City Council met in its regular meeting Feb. 19 at 6:30 p.m. Council members present were Hilary Gordon, Mar Grange, Julie Jones and Mark Justice. Mayor Jackie Wilson presided.When the business of approval of minutes and agenda was complete, the meeting began with business license applications. Melanie Childs represented The Nail Emporium and Nails by Mel. After discussion of the water share requirement and the home nail operation, the business licenses were approved.

Dean and Bobbie Hall were next with an application to open the Knack Shack. The business will be located on Main Street and will be a gift shop. The license was approved with the understanding that the owner of the property would need to provide a water share.

Janna Judd from The Balanced Body was next with a request to relocate her business from commercial to residential. This move will be temporary. Judd was granted a temporary license while more investigation could be done into the water share question.

Mayor Wilson explained to the council that the city now owns the Gibb property, as of earlier in the day when the required documents were recorded with the county. Attorney David Blackwell was on hand to explain and answer any questions by the council. He informed the council that the necessary demolition and clean-up at the site will begin as soon as the process allows. Mayor Wilson informed the council that she will be approaching the county commission on March 4 to ask that the delinquent taxes be waived. She explained that this request may or may not be granted or may be granted in part. Sharon Earl was next on the agenda with questions concerning the water share situation for a business with proposed multiple units. Earl has a business under construction presently and needs the water and sewer hooked up. According to present city ordinance, before this can be done a water share for each anticipated occupant of the building must be presented to the city. Up to this point the building is under construction and there are no occupants. The council discussed at length the ordinance and Earl suggested the council revisit the ordinance wording. The council approved the move to allow Earl to get the needed water hookup now with the one share, and present the water shares, as needed, in the future.

Councilman Grange stressed the need of the council to delve into the existing ordinance and take steps to make the necessary wording changes to alleviate these problems for businesses.

Kortnie Anderson and Colton Allred representing the Emery High Rodeo Team were next to address the council. They requested sponsorship for their rodeo that is to be held April 18-19. The council approved the move to give the team $100.

Marie Johnson approached the council about the stop sign at 400 North and 400 West. Her concerns are that this stop sign is creating more traffic problems than it should be alleviating. There are more near misses now than before the stop sign installation. She suggested the council appropriate some additional property and widen the road. Councilwoman Jones was instructed to do some investigation at the site and bring recommendations next month.

Kresha Eastman from Castleland RC&D was next on the agenda. She explained that her company is involved with resource conservation and development and the USDA administers the program that deals with helping communities with resource management issues. The council approved paying the dues to this organization.

The next item on the agenda was for public comments. Mayor Wilson informed the audience that the city's building inspector, maintenance person is moving to a position with the association of governments. She made a presentation of appreciation to Chris Rowley.

The first citizen to address the council was Sharon Earl. She requested some information about a proposed sale of property that would effect her restaurant business. The mayor explained to Earl that Commissioner Gary Kofford is working with the parties involved as mediator and expects some decisions soon. Boyd Wilson was next with his concerns over the BLMs closure of roads in the San Rafael Swell area. He urged the council to notify the BLM within the 30 day appeal period for this action. Wilson also announced an OHV meeting to be held the following evening to further discuss this issue.

The council moved on to the approval and payment of the claims and bills for the city. When this action was completed, Councilwoman Gordon requested guidelines for the purchase of a lawnmower for the cemetery. Councilwoman Jones next requested the upgrade of 400 East and asked that it be designated a city street. Mayor Wilson instructed Jones to write a work order for the city crew to do the grader work and the clean up of the area. Mayor Wilson informed the council that the city is working with the Department of Workforce Services in an effort to enable more people to become employable. She then began her report explaining the list of requested upgrades for the PCIB. She announced that all items for the city newsletter must be in to Judy Truman before March 15. Wilson next requested permission to begin the process to dispose of some used vehicles. As the city has no building inspector or zoning administrator, Wilson announced that in the interim, the city would used the county building inspector as his time allows and appointments with him will need to be made in advance. Also, Councilwoman Jones will act as interim zoning administrator. The mayor distributed a letter to the council concerning the San Rafael Heritage Area. This letter is informational only. Wilson then explained a meeting at which Dixie Swasey from the county recorders office explained a county wide addressing project. This project will attempt to GEO code the entire county on the same system for addresses and eliminate duplicate and wrong addresses. Wilson reported that the soil sampling at the UDOT buildings has been completed. She also explained the drainage problem on 400 West and another problem north of the city. She has discussed the matter is CVSSD and is planning the necessary work for 2004. Wilson had recently attended a mayor's meeting and informed the council that there is a discrepancy with the other mayors about the application of some monies from the Rec. district. She then read a letter from Draper City explaining rural lan ue issues. Wilson then discussed some items on the medium term list for the CIB. The schedule for the public lands council meetings was handed out to the council and Mayor Wilson encouraged all members to attend these meetings. The last item from the mayor was a letter from Talon Resources expressing their Thanks to the city of Huntington for their help. Councilwoman Gordon began the council reports with Heritage Days and some problems she has encountered with the scheduling of some events. She announced the cemetery projects and their hope that the grant funding will come through. She also informed the council of the cut worm problem at the cemetery and requested to have the area sprayed. Councilman Grange reported that he has met with the canal company and the water projections are low.

Councilwoman Jones informed the council that the materials for city workers to become certified to spray weeds have arrived and that project needs to begin. She also stated that the repairs to the drains on 400 West need to be done before curb, gutter and pavement work can proceed. Jones also reported that she has been in contact with tree trimming companies getting bids for the work that needs to be completed before the roto-mill project on Main Street can begin. Jones also informed the council that she has instructed the tree trimmers to look at the trees on the Gibb property that need to be removed. Also, the beautification committee has scheduled a workshop for Main Street business on March 5. Mayor Wilson explained a request to adopt a resolution concerning Scouting for Food on March 29. This will be considered at the March meeting which will be held March 19 at 6:30 p.m.